Koltnow: Hollywood's memorable faces of 2013

Dec. 24, 2013

Updated Jan. 3, 2014 8:45 a.m.

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1. Shailene Woodley – Although she has been acting since she was a little girl, including five years as the star of the TV series “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” her stock in Hollywood went through the roof when she played George Clooney's daughter in “The Descendents.” Then she ascended to movie stardom in her own right this year in the wonderful coming-of-age film “The Spectacular Now.” It was her idea not to wear makeup in the role of a shy high school student who falls for a popular but troubled classmate (Miles Teller), and director James Ponsoldt agreed. It was impossible not to remember that face, with or without makeup. MICHAEL KOVAC, GETTY IMAGES FOR ELLE

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2. Michael B. Jordan – Born in Santa Ana, this 26-year-old actor stepped away from a respectable but under-the-radar TV career (he played Wallace on HBO's “The Wire” and the quarterback on “Friday Night Lights”) and stepped into a full-blown movie career with his stunning performance as real-life Oscar Grant III in one of the best movies of the year, “Fruitvale Station.” Grant was the innocent young man who was shot to death in 2009 on a Bay Area train platform by a transit cop. ANDREW H. WALKER, GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

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3. Cate Blanchett – The Australian actress already has an Oscar (for the 2004 film “The Aviator”), and she will no doubt pick up a fifth nomination, and possibly a second statuette, for her performance in Woody Allen's “Blue Jasmine.” The Woodman wrote one heck of a part for an actress, but Cate the Great brought the part to life. Her face would be worth looking at if she were standing in the checkout line at Target, but that remarkable face was never more remarkable than in her portrayal of a woman unhinging before our eyes after her husband (a swindler caught up in a financial scandal, a la Bernard Madoff), leaves her penniless and alone. GARETH CATTERMOLE, GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

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4. James Franco – In “Spring Breakers,” Franco was unrecognizable, but still mesmerizing as a gun-waving, tattooed drug dealer in corn rows and metal grill. His name in the film was Alien, and the character seemed so authentic that one wondered if the filmmakers actually pulled a real drug dealer off the street and put him in a movie. You couldn't stop looking at his face, which is pretty much the definition of a movie star. FRAZER HARRISON, GETTY IMAGES

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5. Barkhad Abdi – You probably never knew that there was a substantial Somali community in Minneapolis, but the filmmakers behind the thriller “Captain Phillips” apparently did because they placed an ad in local newspapers looking for amateurs who wanted to play Somali pirates opposite Tom Hanks. What were the chances that the filmmakers would find an inexperienced actor to hold his own against a two-time Oscar winner? Guess what? He held his own. ANGELA WEISS, GETTY IMAGES FOR THEWRAP

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6. Jennifer Lawrence – I'm not even talking about her performance as Katniss in the second “Hunger Games” movie. Although she was watchable in that action role, it is her smaller role as the Long Island housewife in “American Hustle” that is utterly memorable. It could easily bring her another Oscar nomination, coming on the heels of last year's win for “Silver Linings Playbook.” She is the biggest movie star in the world right now, and there are some very good reasons, not the least of which is that it is impossible to take your eyes off her, whether she's armed with a bow and arrow or a deadly beehive hairdo. STEPHEN LOVEKIN, GETTY IMAGES

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7. Amy Adams – You are going to assume that I am about to speak only of her game-changing performance as a con artist opposite an unrecognizable Christian Bale in the aforementioned “American Hustle.” And that performance is worth the singular focus because it elevated the one-time Disney-like princess (“Enchanted”) and girl-next-door (“Julie & Julia”) into one of the fiercest actresses in Hollywood. She has been heading in this direction for a few years (“The Fighter,” “Charlie Wilson's War”), but this is her coming-out party. However, she also should be recognized for her role in Spike Jonze's clever film “Her,” in which she plays the nerdy friend of Joaquin Phoenix, who has fallen in love with the voice of his computer's operating system. Adams wears little makeup for the role, and almost disappears into the character, but in a good way. VALERIE MACON, GETTY IMAGES

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8. Lupita Nyong'o – One day, you're graduating from the Yale School of Drama, and the next day (actually, a few weeks later), you're breaking hearts in one of the most celebrated movies of the year. In “12 Years a Slave,” this Kenya-born newcomer plays Patsey, the best picker of cotton on a Southern plantation, but also the object of desire of the plantation's sadistic owner (played by Michael Fassbender). It was her first film, but no one believes that it will be her last. THEO WARGO, GETTY IMAGES FOR IFP

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9. Jared Leto – He's a movie actor. He's a rock star. He's a woman. In “Dallas Buyers Club,” the actor/rocker lost 30 pounds to play a transgender HIV-infected drug addict who partners with homophobic Matthew McConaughey in a smuggling operation that brings much-needed medication to other HIV patients. Leto says he never stopped inhabiting the character during filming, and it shows. It is one of most watchable performances of the year. MONICA SCHIPPER, GETTY IMAGES

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10. Ron Burgundy – There is something to be said for overexposure, but it was hard to forget that face in 2013. KXMB TV BISMARCK

1. Shailene Woodley – Although she has been acting since she was a little girl, including five years as the star of the TV series “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” her stock in Hollywood went through the roof when she played George Clooney's daughter in “The Descendents.” Then she ascended to movie stardom in her own right this year in the wonderful coming-of-age film “The Spectacular Now.” It was her idea not to wear makeup in the role of a shy high school student who falls for a popular but troubled classmate (Miles Teller), and director James Ponsoldt agreed. It was impossible not to remember that face, with or without makeup.MICHAEL KOVAC, GETTY IMAGES FOR ELLE

A movie star’s face doesn’t have to be perfect, but it helps to be memorable.

A memorable face is what separates a movie star from, let’s say, a print journalist.

Such a face can come in handy when you make movies for a living.

People with memorable faces make a lot of money in Hollywood because moviegoers enjoy looking at them. And, since a memorable face can translate into a memorable performance, Hollywood often hands out gold statuettes to memorable faces.

We thought this might be a good time to recognize some of the more memorable faces that graced the big screen in 2013.

We’re not just talking about a pretty face. Hollywood has many pretty faces. We are talking about actors and actresses whose performances were so memorable that we couldn’t stop looking at their faces.

In no particular order, here are the 10 faces that we found so memorable this year:

1. Shailene Woodley – Although she has been acting since she was a little girl, including five years as the star of the TV series “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” her stock in Hollywood went through the roof when she played George Clooney’s daughter in “The Descendents.” Then she ascended to movie stardom in her own right this year in the wonderful coming-of-age film “The Spectacular Now.” It was her idea not to wear makeup in the role of a shy high school student who falls for a popular but troubled classmate (Miles Teller), and director James Ponsoldt agreed. It was impossible not to remember that face, with or without makeup.

2. Michael B. Jordan – Born in Santa Ana, this 26-year-old actor stepped away from a respectable but under-the-radar TV career (he played Wallace on HBO’s “The Wire” and the quarterback on “Friday Night Lights”) and stepped into a full-blown movie career with his stunning performance as real-life Oscar Grant III in one of the most best movies of the year “Fruitvale Station.” Grant was the innocent young man who was shot to death in 2009 on a Bay Area train platform by a transit cop.

3. Cate Blanchett – The Australian actress already has an Oscar (for the 2004 film “The Aviator”), and she will no doubt pick up a fifth nomination, and possibly a second statuette, for her performance in Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine.” The Woodman wrote one heck of a part for an actress, but Cate the Great brought the part to life. Her face would be worth looking at if she were standing in the checkout line at Target, but that remarkable face was never more remarkable than in her portrayal of a woman unhinging before our eyes after her husband (a swindler caught up in a financial scandal, à la Bernard Madoff), leaves her penniless and alone.

4. James Franco – In “Spring Breakers,” Franco was unrecognizable, but still mesmerizing as a gun-waving, tattooed drug dealer in corn rows and metal grill. His name in the film was Alien, and the character seemed so authentic that one wondered if the filmmakers actually pulled a real drug dealer off the street and put him in a movie. You couldn’t stop looking at his face, which is pretty much the definition of a movie star.

5. Barkhad Abdi – You probably never knew that there was a substantial Somali community in Minneapolis, but the filmmakers behind the thriller “Captain Phillips” apparently did because they placed an ad in local newspapers looking for amateurs who wanted to play Somali pirates opposite Tom Hanks. What were the chances that the filmmakers would find an inexperienced actor to hold his own against a two-time Oscar winner? Guess what? He held his own.

6. Jennifer Lawrence – I’m not even talking about her performance as Katniss in the second “Hunger Games” movie. Although she was watchable in that action role, it is her smaller role as the Long Island housewife in “American Hustle” that is utterly memorable. It could easily bring her another Oscar nomination, coming on the heels of last year’s win for “Silver Linings Playbook.” She is the biggest movie star in the world right now, and there are some very good reasons, not the least of which is that it is impossible to take your eyes off her, whether she’s armed with a bow and arrow or a deadly beehive hairdo.

7. Amy Adams – You are going to assume that I am about to speak only of her game-changing performance as a con artist opposite an unrecognizable Christian Bale in the aforementioned “American Hustle.” And that performance is worth the singular focus because it elevated the one-time Disney-like princess (“Enchanted”) and girl-next-door (“Julie & Julia”) into one of the fiercest actresses in Hollywood. She has been heading in this direction for a few years (“The Fighter,” “Charlie Wilson’s War”), but this is her coming-out party. However, she also should be recognized for her role in Spike Jonze’s clever film “Her,” in which she plays the nerdy friend of Joaquin Phoenix, who has fallen in love with the voice of his computer’s operating system. Adams wears little makeup for the role, and almost disappears into the character, but in a good way.

8. Lupita Nyong’o – One day, you’re graduating from the Yale School of Drama, and the next day (actually, a few weeks later), you’re breaking hearts in one of the most celebrated movies of the year. In “12 Years a Slave,” this Kenya-born newcomer plays Patsey, the best picker of cotton on a Southern plantation, but also the object of desire of the plantation’s sadistic owner (played by Michael Fassbender). It was her first film, but no one believes that it will be her last.

9. Jared Leto – He’s a movie actor. He’s a rock star. He’s a woman. In “Dallas Buyers Club,” the actor/rocker lost 30 pounds to play a transgender HIV-infected drug addict who partners with homophobic Matthew McConaughey in a smuggling operation that brings much-needed medication to other HIV patients. Leto says he never stopped inhabiting the character during filming, and it shows. It is one of most watchable performances of the year.

10. Ron Burgundy – There is something to be said for overexposure, but it was hard to forget that face in 2013.

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